Crypt Keeper
by RabidRabbit97
Summary: Diana Crypt isn't your typical SHIELD agent, more of a "controlled experiment". After being specially recruited by Agent Coulson three years prior under the Paranormal Defense Department, she was assigned with the mighty task of helping the Avengers bring down Loki. Known for more than just her "winning personality", she does her best to deal under such strenuous circumstances.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Diana Crypt had dealt with a _lot _in her short time with SHIELD. She'd "handled" a few rogue mutants in Canada, arm-wrestled with an archangel in Vegas, permanently grounded a couple of corn-worshiping runts from Nebraska, exorcised a few nasty looking demons in Kansas, put a few bullets in zombie brains in Tallahassee and was knee-deep in vampire blood in Louisiana when she'd finally caught wind of Earth being invaded by Norse deities in New Mexico. She dealt with _enough already_. Now SHIELD was blowing up her phone because they wanted her lanky ass to be helping out with the potential global catastrophe because she could occasionally predict the future and move things with her mind. Lucky her.

Diana wasn't even under the terms of what could loosely be considered a "regular" SHIELD Agent. Her "specific skill-set" consisted of being a freak, and her sole occupation was reserved under the Paranormal Defense Department, of which, she was the only person specifically assigned to. Other SHIELD Agents had the misfortune of encountering their oddball coworker when their paths happened to cross and she needed a lift to her next destination. Honestly, she was more of a controlled experiment than an actual employee. Even when Diana dared to consider what her "special" qualifications were when dealing with these _gods_, she was reminded that she could barely speak to her telepathic waitress and keep herself from poking into _her_ mind when she ordered her damned food. It was a rather anticlimactic, though momentous, stepping stone in her career as an Agent. She needed a drink, because as of today, a little piece of the human race rested on her limp, deflated shoulders. _Could she just not?_

By the time she'd finished her wet burger and dry beer in the fang-infested bar called Merlotte's, another faceless, nameless SHIELD Agent was already parked outside and waiting for her. She wasn't sure what scared her the most: The gang of vampires in the booth behind her; or the fact that Fury was desperate enough to entrust the fate of the world "someone like her". _She planned to get shitfaced drunk to calm her nerves otherwise she knew it wouldn't be long before she'd run screaming for the hilltops_. Agent or not, freak or otherwise, a shit sandwich served cold was hard enough to swallow for anybody. They'd take the short drive up to Shreveport, wing a private jet and would be en route to SHIELD HQ before dawn the next day. _Fan-fucking-tastic._ She'd have her supervisor Coulson's head served on a silver platter for keeping her so far out of the loop thus far, but hey, working for a nameless, faceless cooperation had its perks. She couldn't complain much when she'd had such a smooth ride and a breezy takeoff; the perks came easiest when she wasn't searching for any creepy or crawly things to kill. The people she'd met along the way were certainly interesting enough.

"Did Coulson ever get that autograph I asked for? Those vintage Captain America trading cards weren't easy to find, ya know!" Diana giggled, taking a hearty little swig from her metal skull-tipped flask she kept hidden in her coat pocket. Oh the benefits of working with SHIELD certainly were worth the headache when she was allowed to carry an S&W Model 500, so comfortably nuzzled against her bottle of Jack in a _private jet!_

"Yeah, he says he's working on it, but it may be a while, rumor has it the Wolverine's somewhere in Tokyo doing god knows what!" The agent chuckled warmly, finally taking off his sunglasses, lifting the mask of anonymousness. Diana looked perfectly civilian compared to the man's clean and crisp black business suit. Guilty as charged, her grungy appearance came from her less-than-business-casual choice in attire. Though she was twenty-three and living on her own, she still refused to let the good times she had in those clothes go to waste.

"Sorry I can't much look the part," She joked, flashing the agent a winning white smile and an eyeful of her stormy gray irises. "Explains more or less why Coulson's being so stubborn, he hates it when I can't play dress up for him…." Black, holey skinny jeans, combat boots and a Guns N' Roses t-shirt certainly wasn't at the top of Coulson's little dress code. The man sitting across from her in the cushiony, white leather seat just shook his head with a contented sigh and took his response in stride.

"The legendary Crypt Keeper follows her own rules; your reputation precedes you just fine, Agent Crypt, and with your skills, Coulson acknowledges that as long as you do your job—" He tipped his head at the collection of wooden stakes, silver bullets, religious memorabilia and various other tinkering objects stashed deep within the back of the plane's belly "No one very much cares what you wear."

"Hear, hear!" Diana cheered, tapping her cute little flask against his bottle of Budweiser. The two agents exchanged past experiences on missions and occasionally laughed at the other's bad jokes so they could pass on the time. Moments like theirs never lasted very long in their line of work.

"You never did tell me what your skill-set was, Diana…" Agent Joey slurred, half conscious on his seat with his head drooping lamely over the edge. "I mean yeah, people _talk_ about what they are but I wanna hear it from you." The young woman frowned, cupping her cheek into the palm of her hand as she mulled over her _extraordinary_ abilities. If they went down that particularly shady road, it would only bring nothing but trouble.

"I hunt things." She replied simply, having their flight attendant clear away his four empty bottles of booze. Diana's own buzz was slightly put off at his comment; she brought her knees to her chest and played with a loose strand of her long, black hair. This subject was always a little sensitive for her; the only other pair she'd encountered that was just as strange and out-out-of-sorts as she was were these two brothers that helped her out in Tallahassee about six or seven month back. The names weren't sticking to her too well at the moment, but she remembered their sweet ass '67 Chevy Impala.

"No, no, no; not _just that_," Joey whined, adjusting the tightness of his tie slightly as he re-positioned himself once again in his chair, "your _powers_."

Diana smirked and resisted the urge to laugh at how childish he was being. Maybe it was the amount of alcohol he had drunk or Diana's apathy that made her feel the need to set him straight. Maybe it was Joey's blissful ignorance that had him asking her to bluntly reveal a part of her that terrified even her. Diana _knew_ she was a freak, and here this guy was asking her to put on a show for him. Diana sat up in her seat and channeled her energy, swiftly flicking her wrist at the release button at the side of Joey's chair. She'd give him all the hell he wanted if that's how he wanted it. As his legs flew up in the air Diana effortlessly used his momentum to keep one of his ankles propelled in the air so he was hanging like a strung up deer. He went flying with a loud yelp and he thrashed around aimlessly at the air in front of him as he cursed and swore to the heaven's disposal.

"Well, ya know, I don't like to _brag about it_," She mused, rising from her seat and moving Joey to follow her from behind, her index finger still raised, "but I think it says in my file that I possess significant psychokinetic, clairvoyant and telepathic abilities, Joey. They also say in my psychological evaluation that I don't play too well with others because of the things I've had to do, can do and possibly _will do_. So basically what they're telling everyone is this….," Keeping her focus on his elevated ankle, she lowered her hand to glare at the dazed and confused agent; his eyes were wide with fear and his breathing was forced and sharp. Diana could sense his heart pounding in his chest under her angry gaze, thundering in her ears as she bore deeply into his mind. "_Don't fuck with me."_


	2. Chapter 2

Their arrival went on without much notice, although when Agent Joey Forrester jumped down the emergency slide of the jet screaming bloody murder in broad daylight, there were certainly more than a few eyebrows raised. Diana calmly took the stairs out, putting on her black leather jacket to keep warm on the windy, busy Helicarrier. Once she exited the jet, the other agents carried on as usual and went about their business in stark silence, not wanting to risk disturbing the peace. Special Agent Coulson was standing beside the runway, a familiar look of subtle pride in his eyes and a visible smirk of disapproval tugging at his lips. Diana couldn't help but chuckle and waved her hand timidly at the Agent that acted as her mentor and her senior. Yeah she was still somewhat pissed at him about the whole "I need you to save the world from mortal peril out of the blue" crap and the Captain America trading cards, but hey, he was only doing his job.

"I see you're still as insufferable and heinous as ever, Agent Crypt!" He grinned, wrapping his arm over her shoulder and patting her firmly on her back. Sure he was annoyed that she couldn't at least attempt to make new friends or dress professionally, but he still gave her credit where it was due; humans were naturally ignorant and obnoxious with what they didn't understand. Freak or not, he had personally recruited her to become an Agent nearly three years ago and had come to think of her as family. And he still owed her for the Captain America trading cards she had blessed him with, so he figured that this job would be perfect for getting her ahead in her career as an Agent. In his mind, at least, it seemed like a favorable compensation on his behalf.

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" She retorted happily, giving him a quick hug and following him inside the enormous, floating metal beast. Tunneling and turning within the labyrinth inside, Coulson reviewed with her exactly what her job was and assigned her with Agent Hill to escort a particularly mischievous Asgardian fugitive back to base to face the wrath of the infamous Nick Fury.

"Damn, I didn't think it'd be bad enough to bring in _all_ the big boys out to play!" She whistled in awe, her face buried within the contents of the files and images taken from Intelligence as they ventured deeper into the depths within the Helicarrier. All the infamous names and faces made her feel insignificant and small in comparison: just another nameless, faceless, Agent of SHIELD to bother them with her hero worship and silly questions. "Thor, The Hulk, Captain America, _and_ Tony Stark? I must have hit the Jack a little too hard last night, boss, because I think this is totally insane. " She commented bluntly, as ever.

"Ya know, I've been thinking the same thing a couple times myself," Coulson joked, leading his companion towards her assigned work room, "but it isn't like we have much of a choice, now do we?" With a few button presses, and a retina scan of Diana's silver laced eyeball, the steel door smoothly slid open and revealed the grandeur of Coulson's surprise to her.

"Oh you can roger that, boss man." She chimed, running her eyes eagerly over the ancient tomes of the mini library and the twinkling, tinkering toggles that were stationed in the conjoined laboratory; the room resembled an unholy convergence of modern science and archaic, medieval literature. Her head was swimming in the leathery, musky scent of crispy, yellowed pages and bewitched with the urge to run her dainty little fingers over every intelligent object she could get her hands on. The blinding white walls indeed sheltered hundreds of a spectrum of novels, from what Diana could tell at a glance they were mostly Chemistry, various mythology and poetry books as well as a considerable amount of alchemy books. The room was sparsely furnished with ornate lounge chairs, a stumpy cherry wood coffee table resting its graceful legs at a corner of the room and a steel workbench islanded adjacent to the library, coupled with a few funny-looking rolley-seats. It was the Crypt Keeper's wildest dreams come true; she felt like as happy as a fat kid in a candy store with all the paranormal possibility she had to indulge herself in.

"So once we get the big, shiny glowy cube thingy back, what exactly will _I_ be doing with it?" Diana inquired, flipping rapidly through the pages of a children's mythology book placed conveniently on the crown of the workbench. She'd seen both "_Hellraiser_" and "_Transformers_" so she had a fairly good guess that messing with the contents of the Tesseract (or anything that even remotely resembled a cube) wouldn't be a very good idea for the fate of the human race. But _Coulson said _they shouldn't have to worry, so if that little lie didn't pan out the way he planned it to, she could probably guilt him into getting her another compensated flight to Vegas for all her troubles. If she survived, that is.

Coulson smirked and shoved his hands into his pockets, shrugging his shoulders with a doleful expression creasing his brows. "He's using something to control peoples' minds, something powered in his scepter. We think it comes from something inside the Tesseract. We really don't know how it works or the damage it could do in the wrong hands, but we're hoping you could find out a thing or two about it with the help of some of the other Avengers. If everything works out, you shouldn't have to do anything too life-threatening or dangerous, that part of the deal isn't your job. Magic and the supernatural aren't exactly our specialty, ya know; but if you messed with the scepter without getting some kind of 'End of Days' prophecy or blowing us all to hell, that'd be great." Coulson's passive laugh after the explanation sounded forced. "_Easier said than done," _she thought pointedly, tilting her head curiously.

"I'll do my best, boss," Diana said idly, stopping her assault inside the book's withering pages to dog-ear the grim tale within the tattered mythology book. It foretold the end of the world, the final destruction, the righteous cosmic apocalypse brought on by a particularly vengeful God of Mischief. _Ragnarok._ "Well this job just kept getting better and better." _I should have died in that damned fall. _Diana cursed under her breath.

*****Classified Information Concerning the Status of Diana Crypt*****

**Approximately three years ago, Special Agent Coulson recruited her into SHIELD from out of a puddle of her own blood. **

**She's tried to commit suicide at least three times in her life. **

**On the third attempt, she'd accidentally fallen out of a third story window during one of her infamous psychic seizures **

**She ****_should_****have died in that fall. But she didn't. (She favored that reference to curse her luck for just about everything).**

**She never asked to hunt demons, ghosts and ghouls, but at least now she was getting paid to do it.**

**Despite her deep-rooted cynicism for most human beings, she really did have a very kind heart deep down.**

**She loved the colors green and silver.**

**She absolutely hated a compulsive liar.**

**And she had an irregular affinity for antiheros.**


	3. Chapter 3

Tragically, Diana _did_ end up having a bit of a psycho-psychotic episode just before she and Agent Hill were supposed to leave to pick-up a certain, mischievous prisoner of war. She was rambling and raving something on about the end of days and the impending doom of the human race, yadda, yadda, yadda….. _soooooo_ she was respectfully dismissed from _that _obligation and after she punched and pummeled her way out of the infirmary room, she opted to chill out with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, who had arrived only an hour or two earlier. She had could initially detect that Banner would be a kindred soul to get to know (despite his breathtaking anger-management skills), while a previous encounter with Tony Stark would have her praying that she wouldn't "accidentally" use her ability to throw him against a wall or out the nearest window. Or both. Needless to say, Diana wasn't overly fond of him, but she gave him credit where credit was due, most of the time. He was probably the most vexatious, aggravating, closed-minded man she had ever met in her life; but damn him he was brilliant. Not that Diana would ever say it out loud, of course.

"Well look what the zombie kitty-cat dragged in!" Tony greeted surly, not taking his eyes off of whatever he was ogling at on the projected computer screen. "_How sweet of him to notice me_." Diana thought sarcastically. Dr. Banner stood a ways across from him at another lab station and regarded her with a polite nod of his head. Daresay it, he might have even given her an onceover under his eyelashes from the rims of his thin, metal glasses. She may not be the brightest batch in the brainiactic bunch, but she didn't need to be psychic to know when someone was potentially interested.

"Haha, very funny, Mr. Stark." She mused, choosing to investigate the gamma radiation signals on Dr. Banner's monitor over his broad, built shoulders. She may haven't the _slightest_ idea what the crazy numbers and symbols meant, she never was much of a science geek, but she was determined to look like she knew a thing or two about thermonuclear astrophysics so she wouldn't be caught checking out the shy scientist. Bruce Banner was a relatively tall, attractive man with blue eyes and a nice crown of curly black hair. All physical attractions aside, he was practically _radiating_ with both positive and negative energies; it was so strong that Diana could feel goose bumps pin-prickling against the edges of her porcelain skin from underneath her jacket. She could deal with a little gamma radiation here and there but goddamn, he was strong. Taking him in completely "blind" and oblivious, he definitely wouldn't be the kind of guy you'd expect to turn in to the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant on a bad binge.

"You're not still mad about your Lamborghini going a little cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs-crazy, are you, Stark?" She sparred at Tony, moving away from behind Banner and meeting his annoyed smirk with a full-on grin when a particularly vaunt thought of his carried to her ear from across the room. Apparently he still thought that her job was a waste of government funding and would be more practically spent on paying off his taxes. And Diana was just too petty and too proud to resist keeping her mouth shut.

The indignant scoff he replied with from across the room meant that that was a "yes". The billionaire smoothly moved across his work table and very stupidly decided to approach Diana's impish taunts head on. Typical Tony, he never knew how to take a hit with a little grace. It was something they had in common.

"You encounter something weird going on with one of _Tony's _cars? Fella must have been a pretty bad boogie to have the balls to want to haunt _him_." Bruce said coolly, the ghost of a bemused smile on his lips as he watched the two divas bring out their claws and prepare for a catfight.

"It was just a stupid hack or some virus on steroids and you know it, Crypt! Don't start with me about that whole 'demonic possession' crap again!" Tony's coffee colored eyes singed with a mix of disdain and fear; either he was too scared to admit Diana was right about that demon or his pride was keeping him from realizing how stupid he sounded arguing with someone like her about it. She didn't bother digging into his mind to find out, he was infuriating enough as it was. Instead of prying psychically and digging for any truths, she chose the "normal" method of pecking at his nerves. Diana bluntly rolled her eyes and raised her eyebrows at the man, daring him to challenge her capabilities any further. They were now toe-to-toe in their battle of wits; Diana craning her neck to meet him full force and Stark nearly breaking his to defiantly look down at her because she was so short in comparison.

"_De-… mon-ic…. Possession… Stark._" She enunciated sharply, as if he was having trouble hearing her already raised voice, "Pepper sounded pretty convinced it was a demon when she called Coulson at three AM and had me fly over to Malibu to exorcise the damn thing myself last summer." Diana's resolve was very rapidly diminishing as her temper began to flare, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to keep her hands glued to her hips as she resisted the urge to smack around the ingenious billionaire philanthropist with the steel plated chair beside her. The only thing stopping her was the fear of having to explain herself to Coulson, who could in turn, hand her over to face the wrath of the big bad Nick Fury. Diana knew the boss would definitely be pissed at her if she left more than a few dents in the very expensive workroom, let alone a very wealthy Would-Be Avenger's head.

"Yeah, well, I could have handled it…" Stark grumbled sourly, turning his head away from her as he left the room in a huff without any further explanation. Talk about diva.

"God Almighty, he's so stubborn." Diana sighed irritably, pinching the bridge of her nose. It was especially enticing to engage in a quarrel with the clairvoyant, who didn't need the slightest bit of background information to know exactly what she needed to get to the very nerve endings of an argument. Her perception was just as irritating as it was unnerving; she never was allowed to have a good fight. Too many juicy tidbits were revealed too early to make any of them remotely interesting. Like what she knew with Tony, who could get murderously jealous when a guy so much as held the door open for Pepper. Used that as her weapon of choice because it was the easiest vulnerable part of him she could see; albeit it was a kind of a dirty move. Like it not, she just _knew_ when someone was telling the truth or lying straight through their teeth. Or hiding a jolly green giant inside their DNA…. or plotting the subjugation of the entire human race. _That_ was her specific qualification to be a member of this team, not just her award-winning people skills.

"It's just how he is, I know _I_ wouldn't be any happier to admitting I was wrong as much as the next guy but hey," Banner said, instinctively cleaning his glasses with the smooth cloth of his violet button up shirt "I'm not the kind of guy that _gets _to throw temper tantrums like he does."

"You're telling me." Diana grunted, moving from her position and flicking her fingers over Tony's vacant computer screen to try and find out what little further information she could about the Tesseract and the mysterious glowing scepter. After a few minutes of awkward silence and timid glances between the two when the other thought he or she wasn't looking, Bruce finally spoke aloud his thoughts (Though he was practically shouting them across the room in his mind, Diana still feigned mild surprise when he asked his question).

"So what brings you here to the ticking time bomb squad, Agent Crypt?"

Having the entire time he was thinking about it to mull over her response, she simply said, "I'm good with a gun, great with the mind, and Fury's fairly certain Loki's never counted on a meager Earth woman like me to go around meddling with his plans." And to answer the other question she knew that he was bubbling up under his breath, she quickly replied, "Loki thinks we're just the pawns in his game when he doesn't know it's going to be him that ends up being played." Yeah, she was a psychic, but give her break; even _she_ didn't know that for sure.


	4. Chapter 4

A few hours later she felt him arrive. It was like a bomb had gone off in her psyche. She thanked the heavens that she wasn't alone when it happened. Loki was _there_. She was still checking out the files she's collected from SHIELD's database about the Tesseract when the weight of the world suddenly came collapsing down onto the center of her brain. An iron weight crash-landed into her gut and the pupils of her eyes dilated, shrinking back into their sockets as her brain was shell-shocked from the blunt force of his psychic energy. Diana's heart was screaming against the cage of her ribs and begged to be freed while the God of Mischief was being escorted in chains down into the belly of the Helicarrier through several tons of metal. She barely controlled her trembling breaths and desperately clenched her shaking hands into fists to try and steady them. In all her years as an Agent, no, in all of her life, she'd never felt anything like this.

"You okay, Diana?" She turned her head to look at Bruce, her panic blazing like wildfire in her stormy gray eyes. "_But you need to remain calm;"_ she reminded herself, exhaling slowly and silently slipping on her mask of indifference and only nodded casually. The look that he gave her eerily resembled one of pity, and it sparked a familiar anger inside of her that began to burn right through her fear. Loki's footsteps were echoing in her ears, stepping closer and closer to the room that held her and Banner together. And as the seconds dragged by, he was getting even closer now, _dangerously close_. His aura was very forceful, almost even burdensome, and from the considerable distance, Diana worried about the threat he posed with his power. This guy was definitely a force to be reckoned with, and she already knew what he was capable of doing to get what he wanted. _But she wasn't going to let that bastard get away with it today, she'd be damned if she didn't make sure of it._

"Bruce…" Diana wasn't sure if she called his name out loud, thought it, or psychically ordered his attention to the window looking out into the metallic hallway from their lab, but with the way he swiped his glasses off his face and rubbed them with his thumb under the table, she knew he was just as anxious as she was at the intimidating sight. Diana felt every nerve-ending in her body was being scorched by his energy, her teeth slowly grinded against her jaw as the two of them finally made eye contact; a molten silver against a vicious, vivid green. Loki was adorned in leather and iron armor, gloriously black and green clad, with a wicked countenance in the long, elegant strides of his legs as he towered over the guards. When he regarded them with his nod, the god's mischievous little smirk only aggravated Diana further as he held her gaze without waver, as if there was nothing separating him from tearing this entire facility apart with his bare hands if he really wanted to.

With her nails digging into the soft center of her palms, Diana felt the grimace burrowing into her brow dig deeper into her skin as she focused her energy into the center of Loki's forehead; her perception slipping as smoothly as a snake into his devious little brain. After the long years of practice, it wouldn't take long before she'd be able to expose his entire plot down to the wire and have it presented into a nice little PowerPoint for all of the Avengers to see. It would be over so fast for Loki that Diana almost felt sorry for him. Almost, but not quite. With her gaze steeled firmly on him, Loki trailed his emerald eyes from her to Bruce from across the lengthy window, pettily eyeing them like the inferior beings they were as he was escorted by a small militia of SHIELD Agents towards his holding cell. Poor guy would probably manage to forget her face by the time he got there, and it would make Diana's victory so much sweeter. The Great and Powerful Loki brought down by the fearsome nameless, faceless SHIELD Agent that didn't even have a nametag. She was on pins-and-needles just thinking about it; she couldn't wait to see the look on his cute little face when she handed his ass to him on a platter. "_Wait, I think he's cute now? Eyes on the prize, Crypt, geez!"_

Diana wasn't even going to remotely address the tiny part of her that had felt the urge to admire Loki's audacity-filled face, fine featured and handsome as it may have been, because that would have just been fundamentally wrong on _sooooo _many levels. What was it with every villain she encountered with being hot? It was like they paid them extra for having a six-pack or something. But when all things were said and done, Diana knew this guy was _very_ bad news, and made the mental decision to only concentrate on how much she loathed him instead of allowing her eyes to linger at the back of the God of Mischief's raven colored head as he disappeared down the hallway, the marches of his guards finally receding into the background. Diana's nostrils flared slightly as she exhaled in relief, glad to know that now she was at least in the presence of a killing machine with a conscience instead of a narcissistic Norse God with daddy issues. From behind, she heard Bruce let out a sigh as well, all too glad that the source of all their stress was out of their sight for the time being.

She was still standing at Tony's lab station, with her arms folded across her chest as she went over what had just happened in her head. She felt like something was amiss, like when she thought she felt her phone vibrate but it never actually did. Something wasn't clicking where it should have. When she thought about it, it was Loki: the way he looked at her. There was something intuitive she had seen in Loki's eyes that seriously bothering her. When she had tried to get a reading from his mind, something just wasn't panning out the way it was supposed to. The little panorama of his memories flashed too cinematically, it was taking her too far back into his past instead of focusing on what he was planning for the future. All she had seen were brief scenes of him and Thor as children, along with bits and pieces of their life back in Asgard. Her skin was already crawling with the gross, raw impact of the knowledge she had absorbed from him and now he was throwing her a damn psychic curveball. _It was almost as if he had done it purposely…._

_"__Oh Hell no,"_ She cursed under her breath as the realization started to sink in. She had no idea how in the hell he was able to do what he did, but somehow he was able to get the drop on her whenever she tried sneaking around in his thoughts. Loki _knew_ she had been trying to read his mind; somehow he had been able to detect her trying to weed out whatever secrets he was trying to spring on them and now he was throwing whatever random memory he happened to have to veer her off course. She wasn't seeing what she was supposed to be seeing; she was witnessing something treacherous in his mind, some kind of sick game that he had already thought of in case someone like her tried to sneak out any information from him. And it was _seriously_ pissing Diana off. One way of another, she was _going_ to find out what exactly it was he was hiding from them. Diana's anger surged and she suddenly slammed her knuckles onto Tony's work bench and stormed out of the lab without a word. She was going to be damned if she let Loki get the better of her at her own game.


	5. Chapter 5

The Avengers had assembled into the center of the Helicarrier's brig, everyone of importance was ordered to convene at the proverbial round table to offer any ideas or leads on what to do with Loki and to help figure out what kind of ulterior motive could he possibly have lurking in the shadows. They also still needed to find the big, bad, glowy cube thingy that he had "conveniently" lost just hours prior to his arrest. Diana was also in attendance for the meeting, leaning against the back wall beside the giant SHIELD insignia, doing her best to make herself seem as preoccupied with her thoughts as possible, since she wasn't sure how to deal with the unsaid social rules that forbid her from being awkward and uncomfortable with being around so many actual _superheroes_. It was one thing for her to kill monsters for a living, but another thing entirely to be in the same room with the rest of the Avengers. She'd never felt more embarrassed in her life. And come on, why was it that _all of them_ had to be so good looking? Now she was starting to wish she had listened to Coulson and worn her stupid uniform, at least then she wouldn't have to worry about looking like some random civilian. She felt like she was the SHIELD equivalent of a potato, especially since Agent Maria Hill was the only other, well, _Agent_ there, and she looked totally smokin' with her new boots and headpiece. She'd have to ask her where she got them later. But first she had to keep up with appearances. Diana imagined what the rest of the SHIELD Agents would say if they saw her looking so unnerved and pathetic in the background, like she was scared of some silly little meeting. Well no one puts Baby in a corner! "Just act natural and the rest will follow…" She urged herself silently, swallowing the lump she felt growing in her throat.

Self-consciously Diana dusted off some of the dirt on her skinny jeans, mentally ordered herself to stop acting like a little bitch, and forced herself to move away from the wall and stand beside Agent Hill so she wouldn't feel so left out of the group. "Hey…" She said sheepishly, folding her hands behind her back as she played the role of mutual bystander with Maria. The brunette swayed lightly from one foot to the other, her arms folded across her chest with the trademark blank expression that all SHIELD Agents seemed to have. But she had noticed Diana coming and was all too glad to greet her like an old friend, slightly relieved that she hadn't chosen to linger in the shadows by herself for the duration of the meeting.

"Glad you could make it." She smiled warmly, without any trace of sarcasm in her voice. Diana tilted her head slightly in acknowledgement, regaining some of her confidence back despite the nerves she felt tingling in the atmosphere around them. In front of them, the Avengers were figuring out what their next move would be, but behind them, the entire SHIELD staff was busy pounding away at their keyboards, handing out documents or managing navigations to keep this big metal beast floating in the sky. Diana could feel the hum of hundreds of people's minds droning away as they completed their assigned tasks or gave orders to the people around them, making the psychic energy of the Helicarrier thick with electricity that only she could perceive. It made her feel all the more comfortable to know that each and every one of them was hard at work to keep them afloat, that was with the exception of Kyle, who liked to play _Galaga _when he thought no one was watching. But Diana was no snitch, so that was none of her business.

Meanwhile as the Avengers were sharing their theories amongst themselves, Thor provided follow-ups to the questions concerning Loki's army from outer space, the Chitauri. Diana smiled slightly at the look on Steve Roger's face during that particular conversation, because it was nothing short of adorable, despite his stern appearance. She could tell by just looking at him that the wheels turning in his mind were still majorly overwhelmed by the amount of catching up he had to do since he was frozen for about fifty years, but she could admire his attempts to cope with how crazy the world has gotten since he was gone. Diana was fairly sure that the last thing the Captain imagined he'd have to deal with after HYDRA would be interstellar warfare. But hey, "c'est la vie". And from reading his thoughts, she could also tell that his main concern right now was figuring out why Loki had allowed them to take him into custody so easily. That was the million dollar question, and when she and Maria shared a look of distress, it confirmed that it was a great reason to be concerned about Loki's secret agenda. Diana crossed her arms over her chest and let her eyes wander on each of the star players in this superhero lineup, to figure out what they had in mind to solve this problem before she decided to take matter into her own hands.

Now that she had moved, she was given a better view of all them; getting a real good look at the superhero squadron. Oddly enough, now that she was seeing them together in action, it was almost unreal; kind of like the intro to some bad joke. _"Thor, Black Widow, Captain America, and the Hulk walk into a bar…"_ She'd have to come up with a good punchline once she finally had some free time, because as it was, Fury had assigned her to be useful, to, quote-unquote: "not act like a fool and provide some goddamn insight for them". She wasn't going to let him down; she actually _liked _this job. And as soon as they were able to find the Tesseract, the sooner she'd be able to _do_ her job. She hadn't counted on Loki being able to detect her wriggling around in his mind, but that wasn't the only trick she had up her sleeve. Diana Crypt was many things, but a one-hit wonder was not one of them.

"…I don't think we should be focusing on Loki, that guy's brain's bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him." Bruce says informatively, his mind whirling in deep thought as he tried to find the motive behind Loki's secret agenda. From what Diana could gather, he was certainly on the right track, since she was the only one in the room who could read minds. Everyone else in attendance felt like this ride was rolling just a bit too smoothly for comfort. Diana nodded in agreement to Bruce's statement, when the God of Thunder suddenly spoke loudly in rebuttal.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother." Diana fought the urge to roll her eyes and looked glumly at Agent Hill, who simply shrugged her shoulders, as if to say "leave it be". But Diana just couldn't have the poor guy naively believing that Loki would surrender so easily and return to Asgard without having some sort of devious trick up his sleeve. What she wanted more than anything right now was to get permission to access his mind. Her little encounter with his brother from earlier still had her shaken; that wanton look she had seen in his eyes enforced the latter assumption that he was still managing to plot global domination from behind bars. Why, who would know what Loki was up to better what than his own brother? They just needed to figure out first, as well as figure out what kind of spell he was using to control his captives' minds. And that was where Diana came in.

"He killed eighty people in two days." The Black Widow replied swiftly, giving Thor a subtle look of contempt under her luscious black eyelashes. With a tight purse of her lips, Diana resisted a snicker at Thor's expense, who would have surely heard her had not Agent Hill given her a sharp jab in the ribs with her elbow. But as she silently hissed in pain, she did agree with the renowned super spy. No man, Asgardian or otherwise, should ever even _think_ of arguing with a woman like Natasha Romanoff. He'd have his ass handed to him in ten syllables or less. It would shatter any record Diana had, not that she was counting or anything. She would have given her props for saying so had she not been reminded to keep her mouth shut by the dull throb of pain she felt in her side; Diana made a mental note to keep her comments at a minimum. At least for now.

"He's adopted…" Thor defended meekly, this broad stature suddenly crumbling into that of a bumbling, over-sized child instead of an infamous Norse Deity, brought down by the sheer badassery of their female counterparts. Diana's broad smirk held nothing but pride, and she winked sportingly at her fellow female in uniform, who regarded her politely in turn. She and Natasha might not have had an exclusive best friend status, but Diana could credit the Black Widow for teaching her a thing or two about snapping necks and writing checks. She was basically her idol, if she ever had one.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium… what do they need the iridium for?" Bruce Banner asked next, grabbing at yet another straw within the pool of ideas they were still brainstorming over. It was right then that Tony Stark had spoken up next, escorted by none other than Special Agent Coulson. Diana tried to give him a wave to say hello, but he sliced his hand across his throat to silence her and moved to stand at the opposite end of the meeting room. Slightly wounded, she returned her focus to Tony, and he was the one that finally got the ball rolling on what their next move would be. Though she's rather chew broken glass than say it out loud, he'd actually managed to conjure up a pretty good game plan. When he strode past her and Agent Hill, talking about the stability of his new portal, they both rolled their eyes, ready for this meeting to be over. But when he called out Kyle for playing _Galaga_ at his work station Diana lost it completely. She was suppressing her laughter so hard she thought her ears would pop; it was probably the best thing she'd ever heard.

That is, until Tony started talking about the science behind finding the location of the Tesseract and then he completely lost everyone in the room who was without a PhD in whatever type of physics mumbo-jumbo he was talking about. Which then resulted in a one-sided conversation that left the billionaire preaching to the choir for several minutes, save for Dr. Banner, who was miraculously able to figure out exactly what Stark was talking about while Diana shared a very helpless look with Captain America, who looked just as lost as she did. Suddenly she knew exactly what it felt like to be in his shoes.

"Finally, someone who speaks English!" Tony sighed with relief, moving over to Banner's side to give him a sporting pat on the back for a job well done.  
>"Is that what just happened?" Diana and Steve asked incredulously, feeling like total idiots. While Banner and Stark were exchanging pleasantries, the Director himself appeared from out of thin air, scaring the living hell out of the Agent in skinny jeans, and making it very clear that Bruce Banner's only obligation here was to help track the cube. Suddenly Diana felt like Coulson had been smart to give her the silent treatment, now she wouldn't have the chance to miss her cue once it was her turn to finally speak up. Oh joy, and in front of the boss too.<p>

"Let's start with that stick of his." Steve Rogers said, quickly changing the subject back to the Tesseract, "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." _Here goes nothing…_

"I don't know about that, Captain, but what I can tell you is that it's powered by the cube." Diana responded, hoping with something that sounded like confidence, looking Steve right in his eyes "And I'm here to tell Fury how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest guys we know into his personal flying monkeys." If she had a mic to drop she surely would have dropped it. And if anyone ever asked her to do that again, in front of _Fury_, she'd have punched them right in the kidneys. Both of them.

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor started to say, his brow furrowing.

"I do!" Captain America answered immediately, earning an especially flamboyant eye roll from Tony Stark. "… I understood that reference." He added, his bright smile dying as quickly as it came when no one gave him a gold star. Following that last comment, Tony and Banner excused themselves, and the meeting had officially come to a close. Coulson and Fury were gone before she could come up with a reason to stop them from leaving and she was suddenly left hanging with Agent Hill.

"Back to our battle stations, then I guess." Maria sighed, touching Diana's shoulder before moving away to go work back at her desk. At least she bothered to say goodbye.

"Have fun." Diana called out weakly, shoving her hands in her pockets. The Captain looked all too happy twiddling his thumbs at the table, but Diana's next big surprise came when a rather attractive God of Thunder came and approached her.

"Might I have a word with you, my lady, if it suits you?" _Well isn't this just lovely?_


	6. Chapter 6

"What? Is there something in my teeth?" Diana joked, finally finding the free time to make conversation with the Asgardian hero in the conference room of the Helicarrier. She was grateful that she had this chance to speak with him; ever since she'd looked into Loki's thoughts, that growing seed of uncertainty had been taking root into her cranium and wouldn't leave her alone. Loki had shown her memories of the two of them when they were younger, so she was determined to use that to her own advantage, if only she could figure out how in the world it was important to him. Everything she sees always had some sort of meaning, no matter how small it might have been. So it nagged at her worse than an itch she couldn't scratch when she stunted by something she didn't understand, by something she couldn't comprehend. It was _her_ _thing _to know about as much of the abnormal and unusual as humanely possible, it was the only thing she felt good at. And if she was lucky enough, maybe the God of Thunder would be able to shed some light on what was going on in his younger brother's delusional and deranged little mind.

"No, no, daughter of Crypt, it is nothing of the sort. Though I'm quite accustomed to seeing a woman thrusting herself so recklessly into the chaos of battle, I do not see any reason for one so young as you to be." Thor's worried expression was priceless for Diana; even if he had no idea what he was talking about, his dazzling smile was certainly worth the headache of being treated like a helpless child. It was obvious that he didn't think she could handle this kind of job on her own, not because he thought she was weak, but because he didn't wish to see her harmed. To be honest, it was actually very sweet. Of course guys like him always had the best qualities; they were tall, built and incredibly handsome? It was _only_ appropriate that he couldn't be human; he had to be a _god_. And he was totally _taken_. But all flattery aside, the fact that he underestimated her made Diana feel the need to prove to him just exactly how _capable_ she really was. If only he knew, how Diana could go on for hours and hours about her own superhuman accomplishments, none greater than those riddled with bloodshed and fraught with danger. And the occasional silver bullet or wooden stake.

Sadly, she had more important things on her plate than her ego, so she let his comment slide with a rare appearance of reprieve. The smile she gave him in response to his comment was genuine enough, but in the back of her mind she knew that if he wasn't hotter than the Human Torch, she totally wouldn't have hesitated to knock his lights out. Most people had certainly gotten punched in the throat for saying much less about her unsuspecting appearance, but she knew the golden-haired fellow meant no disrespect. And she probably would've broken her hand on his armor. "Actually, I do have a reason, Thor," She explained, taking a few steps forward to address him directly, "when you think about it. How else could anyone but you and I know whether Loki is telling the truth or not about surrendering?"

"I don't understand…" Thor's eyebrows knit in curiosity, his crystal blue eyes lighting up with intrigue; he was already leaning in towards her to absorb more of what she had to say when she simply instructed him to let her see his hands. He didn't think twice about it, the slight movements of his arms revealed how toned the shapely muscles were; they were as smooth and strong as marble but flowed as freely as water when he turned his forearm wrist-side up for her to inspect his palms.

"If you don't mind, of course" She added for good measure, her eyes skillfully running over every crevice and crack she found lying in the maps of his skin. The ample man complied, obediently holding out his palms widely for her, eager to learn from what knowledge she could offer with him. Diana looked up to the Asgardian once more for confirmation as she lifted own hands, Thor nodding briskly in approval for her to continue. Slowly, Diana wrapped her slender ivory fingers over the cusps of his calloused knuckles and closed her eyes, taking in the inviting essence of the God of Thunder.

Spiritually, Thor was an open book; everything she would find about him was shimmering in gold; he always spoke his mind and in his words, his opinions were always fairly voiced. Diana welcomed the flurries of information she gathered from him, images of his family, flashes of his life in Asgard, reliving his epic battles with The Warriors Three, meeting Jane Foster in New Mexico, reminiscing about the times when he truly felt his brother had loved him…. "_What?"_

Thor had been raised in a warrior-prince's regard, to be very courageous, courteous and strong. His aura was the color of gold, he was proud and true, and honest and just; the fitting character of a finely bred king. _He was everything that his brother was not_…. Diana's brow twitched slightly when Thor's focus began to shift for a second time. He was thinking about Loki again. She didn't want to dig into something so personal, but she had to get the information out of him some way, but she was hoping it would come to her willingly.

"Do you really think he'll change?" She asked softly, opening her sterling eyes without letting go of his massive hands. The question didn't actually require him to speak, he'd instinctively conjure up what he _really_ thought about Loki and she would easily see it, but Diana gave him the benefit of the doubt if wanted to share it with her or not. Thor didn't answer her immediately, but the glimmer in his eyes dimmed slightly, his grip gently slackening as he bowed his head low in contrition. _"But, why?"_

"I don't know." He thought dejectedly, allowing his memories to flash across his mind. He revealed to Diana the kindred times he'd shared with Loki as children; their innocent rivalry, their meddlesome games and their simplistic skirmishes that bonded them together as brothers. _"When had that all been in vain? What lies could he have conjured to make himself believe that I never truly cared for him?"_ Diana could hear his thoughts so clearly; Thor blamed himself for Loki's twisted hatred for humanity, for his insatiable lust for power, for the poisonous desires that overwhelmed him and turned him into a bloodthirsty monster. Thor never even suspected that Loki was slowly becoming estranged from his beloved, fair-haired brother; that he had believed himself to be robbed of their parents' love and their father's affections, for being forced into exile by the shade of his own accomplishments. Thor was the favored son, the perfect son, _Odin's son. What room did that leave for Loki?_

Diana was perturbed at the discovery that even his own brother didn't know what to do with him at this point. It was a miracle in itself how the two could have gotten along so well to begin with, they were such polar opposites. Thor was a very simple man by his nature, very straight forward and open-hearted. But Loki … Loki was universally complicated and perplexing, always pungent and masterfully manipulative; the perfect tactician. He was perfectly befitted by his name as the God of Mischief with his caustic combination of his skill in powerful magic and the gift of a silver tongue. He seemingly became Thor's arch nemesis overnight, so different from the loving, devoted younger brother that he used to be when they were children. _"Maybe that was why he couldn't stand to hear Bruce talk him down." _Diana reasoned. Thor still loved Loki, regardless of his crimes; to him, he was still his misguided little brother. He felt obligated to help him. Diana lifted her head and released the God's hands, taking a polite step backwards so he wouldn't feel uncomfortable with her sudden proximity. Suddenly the silence between the two was deafening.

Thor gave her a kindly smile in return for her consideration; a smile of compassion and brief admiration. "I must say, I have never encountered a Midguardian with such an extraordinary gift, Lady Crypt." He said with a hint astonishment. He could grossly feel her probing around in his mind like a worm, but as invasive as it was, she didn't violate his discretion, though he had no doubts that she could have if she wanted to. When she touched his hands, he could feel her energy binding with his, connecting to a deep part of his soul so that she could gain access his memories. It was a highly unusual form of magic, but with her remarkable talent, even someone as esoteric as Loki couldn't hide his intentions from her gaze.

"Is this the reason why you've journeyed so far to be here, Lady Crypt? To become a weapon in our fight against Loki?" Diana just frowned and shrugged her shoulders awkwardly. It would have been the perfect time for a dignified, noble-minded response to have miraculously left her lips, to finally raise herself up to the hype that everyone in SHEILD held her to and put herself on fair ground with the rest of the superhero squadron… but no. Today was just not Diana's day. All she could think to say on the spot was:

"Well _no one else_ really wanted to."


	7. Chapter 7

Diana was buried to her eyeballs in books concerning ancient Norse and Celtic lore on one hand, idly listening to _Panic! At the Disco _from a loosely hanging headphone in her ear, and shuffling through the internet for more evidence about the magical staff with the other. She had read and reread all about Asgard, Thor, Ragnarok, the Bifrost, and nothing she found was clicking to aid her in her ever-so dire situation. She had also tried typing in at least twenty different versions of spelling for the word "Tesseract", but as far as the internet was concerned, there was absolutely nothing she had to go off on to help her. She even called in a favor from an old friend she had over at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, and even _they _couldn't get her any leads. After two hours of coming up with zilch, the world's greatest paranormal investigator could conclude only one thing: she was completely, _horrendously _screwed. As it was, there was absolutely nothing she could do unless she could get her hands on Loki's stupid glowing little toy. And then she'd be lucky if she could find anything else to work with from there!

"Goddamn it," She swore bitterly, shutting her books and tugging away the music from her ears. The scepter would have been with Bruce and Tony right now, they were supposed to run whatever weird scientific tests they could before they were supposed to let Diana work her magic on it. So for now, she simply had to_ find_ something that could be useful for figuring out what it for. "Okay, well let's see what our God of Mischief is up to then." She grumbled to herself, typing in her security codes so she could check in on what Loki was doing from her monitor. From the tiny security camera she could see Director Fury giving Loki the run down about the free-falling metal deathtrap they had made for…. Well, it _could _hold someone like him, but Director Fury was juggling The Avengers like a loaded gun and didn't want to risk any of his star players going psycho before the big battle scene.

"_…__Ant. Boot._" She heard Fury explain to the disgraced god from the computer screen. Diana scoffed defiantly as she watched Loki grin and glamour his way through Director Fury's explanation of the probability of his imminent death if he even _scratched_ at the glass. She could tell that he still played this whole thing off like it was some kind of sick game. It was Diana's first insight at the Asgardian-Sized ego that could make Tony Stark look like a nun in comparison.

"_It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me._" Loki replied smoothly, observing the details of his cage with his hands folded neatly behind his back. _"Well no shit, Sherlock." _Diana smirked, tapping on the screen to make it zoom in on him just a tad.

"_'__Built for something a lot stronger than you."_ Fury corrected, venom laced into every word. The cage most certainly could contain Loki, but well intended as The Avengers Initiative might have been in theory, Bruce Banner was the live wire that had them exposed 24/7. Diana certainly knew what the unsuspecting scientist was capable of, despite all the goodness he had inside him; she'd seen the footage from the incident in Harlem. He was very, very dangerous when the Other Guy decided to rear his ugly green head._ "But Bruce wasn't a bad guy," _she argued mentally, sincerely believing that he didn't deserve to be treated like a ticking time bomb, even if, he technically was. She unclenched her white-knuckled fist and continued watching the two men spar words. It was obvious that they each had plenty to say to the other, so she had to do her best not to let her thoughts distract her.

"_Oh, I've heard. The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?_" He was talking about Bruce, and not the _monster_ sheathed inside of him. Without even realizing it was happening, Diana's cheeks flushed with rage, indignant that Loki would even dare to address the brilliant man she had known in such a manner.

_"'__Misunderstood' would have been the word I'd have chosen." _She spat mentally, her nostrils flaring.

"_How desperate am I?"_ Fury countered, shaking his head incredulously, "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me _very_ desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Damn straight you won't be!" Diana could appreciate Fury's sensibility, if it had been her down there, she given the god the old "persuasion and reasoning" treatment. And by "persuasion and reasoning", she meant "kicking the living shit out of him until he gets his story straight" treatment. That strategy her favorite, and was always at her disposal when she was out working on a regular case, and of course, was the primary reason why she didn't get to have a partner assigned to her with SHIELD, a boyfriend of any kind to tolerate her, or very many close friends to tell her to tone it down a notch. She tended to be a bit… _reckless_ in nature. But even though her methods were highly unorthodox, they were virtually guaranteed to get her the results that she wanted. But Fury's way was clearly working, so she wasn't going to question him, especially since he in the middle of an interrogation that she may or may not have had permission to watch.

"_Ooh. It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power: unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all of mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is._" Loki taunted relentlessly, his emerald eyes gleaming with mockery. He never took his eyes off of Fury, standing defiantly before the glass of his cell as he continued defacing the name of SHIELD and everything that it stood for.

_"__Man, I should have gotten some popcorn, this stuff is golden."_ Diana thought smugly, eagerly leaning forward into her screen so she could watch the rest of this dramatic scene unravel with very generous amounts of her attention. For her, the mood had become warped in such a way that had her more anticipatory than she was when reading a Game of Thrones novel. She was torn between enduring the agony watching more and the blissful ignorance of shutting off her monitor and pretending that this ordeal had never happened in the first place. But there was no going back now; she needed to know how this was going to end. Breaking the silence, Director Fury, with a glare that would put the Cyclops to shame, straightened his spine and contemplated what to do with Loki for a moment longer before heading out of the tiny cell, to more efficiently spend his time tending to the mind-numbing task of cleaning up the monumental mess that Loki had left in their wake.

"_Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something._" He called out casually as he disappeared from the camera's line of vision. He was so clearly done with having to waste another breath on Loki, and with that said, the King of Badass strolled out of the room with his leather cape waving goodbye to the captive in style. Diana finally collapsed back into her seat, feeling a subtle sense of pride at the way her boss was able to defend their little vagabond group of heroes without missing a beat. Loki might not have been all right, but he did have some points. They _were_ desperate. They _needed_ to stop him. And Diana would be damned if she didn't do everything in her power to help. She made a mental note to buy Fury a drink when this was all over. _If they survived, that is._

"You might not think so, Your Royal Ass-ness, but we're tougher then you think." She said to the monitor, an amused smile tugging on her lips as she watched at the tiny man kept in the cage. Loki still stood at the edge of the glass, his eyes lingering at the door that Fury had just left out of before he did something especially unnerving. His brow furrowed for a moment, and he readjusted the square of his jaw. It looked like he muttered something she couldn't catch under his breath before he looked straight up at the tiny security camera crammed in the corner and looked Diana dead in the eyes, with a feral grin that made her blood run cold.

_"__Well we'll just have to see about that, now won't we, mortal?" _Diana screamed.


	8. Chapter 8

Everything was upside down. Literally. And the room was spinning. Diana laid flat on her back, her arms hanging over her head as she was slowly spun, lazily rotating around in a circle, reminding her of the god-awful merry-go-ground she used to ride as a kid. _But why was it spinning? _Blinded by the harsh white light coming from the ceiling above, she protected her eyes with the backs of her hands, shielding her corneas from being fried right out of their sockets. "Fuck…" She groaned, squeezing them shut, trying to find the strength to get on her feet as her brain began to pulse and throb painfully against her skull. _Why was she on the floor?_ Her legs were pathetically wobbly, threatening to give out from underneath her at any moment, any slight shift in her weight would easily cause her topple over all over again. Diana used all the strength she could summon in her fingers to pull herself up, using the stumpy coffee table behind her as leverage. When she was finally steady enough to stand on her own, she could see the mess that had been left before her.

The stool she had been sitting in was toppled over, and the books she was using for reference were scattered messily all over the floor surrounding her, lying exposed with their withered pages ripped and crumpled. The computer had been shut down, luckily she hadn't taken it down with her when she fell, Diana reasoned, rubbing the sharp pain she felt in her butt. She reached at her back pocket, and let out a cry of dismay. Her headphones were completely ruined, crushed by the force of her weight when she came tumbling down like a sack of potatoes. _Why did she fall? _The muscles in her legs were screaming in protest as she dragged herself back over to the monitor, wriggling the mouse a little to get the screen to turn back on.

She stiffened, the screen brightening back up and pinpointing her back to the exact moment when she had been knocked down; her breath catching in her throat as the memory came slamming back at her mind like a baseball bat to the face. Loki did this. "That _asshole!_" She shrieked, her entire body flooding with a liquid rage. She was going to make him pay; she wanted nothing more than to drop-kick him in the face with enough force to bring down the Great Wall of China. Her temper was spurned and oh how sweetly it seared into her soul, turning her aura to color of a murderous red. _"I bet he _likes _this type of thing, the pervert."_ Diana huffed, gluing her arms to her sides. She was so angry; she was almost hysterical, she felt like cackling and screaming and crying out all at once, but she couldn't muster up the strength to do any of what she wanted to channel her energy. It was as if he had triggered a defense mechanism in her body that instinctively that prevented her from moving, short circuiting the wires that controlled her movements, locking her arms and legs into place, until it was safe to come back down to Earth again.

_"__You're playing right in to his hands!"_ She heard a small voice cry, being thrown around wildly in the raging sea of her thoughts, barely audible past the cacophony of her emotions crashing inside her head. Her blood was practically boiling at this point, almost suffocating the life out of her. She needed to be anywhere but here, she couldn't stand the pressure of the psychic energy that was being forced into every pore in her body. It was scorching her skin, Diana could hardly think straight. _"You need to leave your body,"_ The voice instructed firmly, slightly louder this time, growing more confident as the malignant energy inside of her began to falter. Exhaling deeply, and willing the black storm clouds hovering inside her mind to leave her, she felt her consciousness begin to slip away from her, the vision at the corners of her eyes slowly beginning to fade in and out of sight. It wasn't that she had started to pass out; it was something completely different, something almost unexplainable.

Every time she's managed to do it, it never failed to make her feel as if she were falling into an abyss, yet her spirit still remained, as weightless as a feather, floating above oblivion's edge. Suddenly Diana could _see _herself, stepping out of her own body; her consciousness acted as a mirror, mimicking the girl frozen in time, trapped in the physical world. The image frowned at her in discontent, not liking the unflattering way her face was contorted into a grimace, just as she had been when she had left her, with her cheeks burning bright red, and her hands clenched into tight fists. Her consciousness sighed, suddenly sensing a greater force of energy radiating from somewhere within the depths of the Helicarrier. Deciding it would be better to investigate the source to get her mind focused on doing something more productive; she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her black leather jacket, and excited the room, leaving Diana behind to simmer down.

Diana's consciousness strolled casually down the metal halls of the Helicarrier, not paying much attention to those that walked straight through her, passing through her body as easily as a puff of smoke. She could hear their alarmed gasps as the inhuman chill of her presence seeped through their skin and soaked into their bones. She smiled smugly to herself, pleased that they would never find out that it was _her_ sneaking around the facility, lingering in the halls like a ghost hanging over their shoulders. Diana had purposely left "astral-projection" out of her resume, knowing it would come in handy if she ever needed access to information she couldn't find by asking directly. Secrets gave her power, and it was a relatively small one compared to everything else SHIELD had knowledge of.

The spirit moved forward, guided by the strong pull of the energy she concluded was coming from a laboratory, as she passed by a reasonable number of signs leading in that particular direction. Drawing closer, she began to hear voices, each rising in volume and pitch as they all fought for dominance, a new voice quickly piling over the other like the screams of crows taking flight from a barren tree. The static she could see polluting the air grew heavier and heavier with an emotion that she knew all too well: distress. When she was finally face-to-face with the door containing so much of this negative energy, the aura was pulsating, with long, twitching tendrils of energy snapping from the thick metal door like vipers. There was a growing sense of urgency to reveal what was lurking behind that door, and forgetting about all other matters, she moved towards it, determined to find what secrets were hidden inside. It didn't matter whether the doors were locked or not, since she could phase straight through them as easily as a hand could slip through water.

Crammed into the tiny space, she counted six bodies within the room in total. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark on one side, while standing opposed to them was Thor, Steve Rogers, the Black Widow and surprisingly enough, Director Fury. In astral form, Diana could see the colors of each of their auras more clearly, and though no two were ever exactly the same, they all reacted in the same way; and right now, all of them were shaking with a mix of fear, rage and anticipation.

"I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce Banner demanded, pointing at the computer monitor on his left with his glasses, revealing SHEILD's schematics for "Phase Two" for all the Avengers to see. Diana's consciousness was taken aback, her eyes widening as she began to understand the nature of the distress levels. This was bad. And it was only going to get worse.

"Because of him." Director Fury answered heavily, his deep voice going deathly silent, as he pointed his finger accusingly at Thor.

"Me?" The God of Thunder asked quietly, not believing or understanding what he had just heard the Director hold him accountable for.

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that _levelled_ a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, _hilariously_, out-gunned." The Director explained, taking the time to look each of the Avengers in the eyes as the weight of his words began to level with the severity of their situation.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor defended quickly, his aura drumming to the familiar beat of anger.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? _And,_ you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled!"

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve Rogers cut in, his displeasure at being lied to evident in the harsh defiance of his words.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." Thor warned ominously, his bright blue eyes hardening. "It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war!"

"A higher form?" Steve blurted in disbelief, that somehow this new kind war could manage to find a way to step itself up.

"You forced our hand…. We had to come up with something."

"A nuclear deterrent, because that always calms everything right down." Tony argued, reprimanding the poor way SHEILD was trying to coax them into compliance with their pathetic, half-assed justifications.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Director Fury responded, his one good eye narrowing at the billionaire.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep..." Steve commented, agreeing with Fury.

"Wait, wait, hold on! How is this now about me?" Tony asked indignantly, his nostrils flaring. "I'm sorry, isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor said with stern disappointment, pointing his remark at Director Fury. Effortlessly, he moved his attention from Stark to turn over the blunt of his anger towards the Thunderer, his temper beginning to spark dangerously.

"_Excuse me_, did we come to _your _planet and blow stuff up?" He cried bitterly, sizing him up. Diana's astral form could see their tempers boiling over past their breaking points, their voices were rising and suddenly it was a free-for-all for accusations and mistrust. Now she _had_ to leave, she needed to stop this, before they all exploded, and did something stupid— then it clicked. Loki was doing this. Just as he had tried to make her combust with rage, he was doing the same thing with the Avengers. Only she knew that they lacked the critical defense mechanism to prevent them from lashing out at each other. It was the scepter, glowing brightly on the work bench beside Dr. Banner, which was the source of all their chaos. It needed to get away from them.

Not wasting a moment, she fled the worsening scene and flew as fast as she could back to her physical body. As fast as she was going to make it in time, she couldn't afford to try and cushion the blow, as it was, her body was going to have to tuck and roll on this one. She thrusted herself forward as strongly as she could to make it around a sharp corner, knowing that after this turn she would be close enough to crash into her body. When she could finally see her, she raised her arms and shut her eyes, praying that she'd be able to make it back to the Avengers in time.

_"__Run!"_ Her mind roared, releasing its iron grip on her body. Like a bird taking flight, Diana burst from her room and sailed through the air, her feet hardly hitting the floor as she sped down the corridor. As she made the turn before the final hallway, her foot stumbled beneath her and she slid across the floor, colliding loudly with the opposite wall. "_Fuck!_" She yelped, staggering to find her footing again as her left side stung with pain. She was almost there; she could make it, just a few more feet! When she reached the lab, she pushed herself against the door until the space was wide enough to slip through; still screaming her warnings as it slowly began to open.

"Everyone stop fighting, Loki's wants us to start—" She fell, her feet unable to support her weight at the angle she was forcing herself against the door to try and get in. Scrambling to her feet, and trying to catch her breath, she did her best not to quiver under the shocked stares of the Avengers and the Director. "Am I interrupting something?" She asked innocently, clearing her throat and habitually dusting off her jeans.

"Um… no…" They all answered awkwardly, looking amongst themselves in confusion. Diana did a quick scan of the room and made her way to stand beside Dr. Banner, slipping her hand behind his back casually as she removed the scepter from his hand.

"Well then I'll be taking _that_ now!" She chimed, grinning for all she was worth, while she took her cautious steps away from him, keeping the weapon safely behind her back. She could feel its power throbbing into her hand, begging to be used, to exert its will over others and command whoever stood against it into submission. She could see the appeal it might have over a man like Loki, but to her, it simply made her insides recoil. "I'm just gonna hold on to this until we can find the Allspark or whatever it is you kids call the cube and we can get the hell back to progressing the story, okay?"

"I couldn't agree with you more, Diana." Banner said calmly, walking towards his beeping computer. "Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor inquired, moving to see closer to Banner to see what was going on when Tony volunteered to go and retrieve it first. "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it." He added, grimly aware of how dire their situation could be if it fell into the wrong hands yet again. As helpful as ever, Rogers let Tony that he wouldn't be flying solo on his quest to retrieve the Tesseract, but all it did was stir the pot even more and before Diana could protest how childish they were being, they were arguing again. She stood with her back towards the door, watching helplessly as things were spiraling out of control when she heard Dr. Banner let out a quiet gasp.

"Oh my God…"

Diana froze, psychically hearing a very distinctive beeping against the outside of the Helicarrier. _"Danger, danger,"_ Her mind foretold, _"Bomb."_

"_Everybody hold on!_" She screamed, just moments before an explosion went off in their room.


	9. Chapter 9

Diana hears the sirens, the SHIELD Agents clamoring, can see the flashes of blinding red lights, the chaos that has unleased itself all around her but she herself can't feel a thing. She's sitting on the floor in the hallway, after being cruelly thrown from the force of the explosion, landing outside the open door of the laboratory. She's dumbstruck, but otherwise not harmed, with the glowing scepter still grasped weakly inside of her hand. Running, she watches the Agents passing by her; they're all running, trying to get away, trying to make sense of what has just happened. She's vaguely aware of the fact that they were just attacked in her stupor, but everything was moving in slow motion.

_"All hands to stations", _the voice on the intercom announces, blaring the alarms that are driving everyone into frenzy. Then, the sound of movement drew her attention to the dark figure slowly beginning to rise from the room in front of her, visibly struggling to gather its strength. She knew who it was instantly, her mind being jump-started by the sight of her superior rising, _surviving_ against the odds. Director Fury was still inside the lab, but it's was now blown to pieces, and the Avengers were nowhere in sight. The room was totaled; sparks of electricity leaping from broken wires and fearsome tendrils of fire snapping from above the doorway like vipers; the sight of the flames just like what she had seen in her astral form. Groaning, Director Fury was able to stand, but he is clearly in agony, doubling over himself with his hands cradling his forehead "Hill!" She hears him call out into his headpiece, trying to assess the situation. "Talk to me!"

"_Number three engine is down! We've been hit!_" Agent Hill answers from the other side, trying to remain calm. If Diana's memory served right, she should back on the main deck, and was now desperately trying to keep the Helicarrier from free-falling out of the sky. While the Director was hastily dishing out orders, he gets Tony Stark to work on repairing the damaged engine turbine, and the next order he makes is for Coulson.

"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section, then get to the armory." He commands as he exits the room, disregarding the pain he feels burning inside of him; Fury needed to find out where his all-stars had gone while he dealt with one crisis at a time, and at the moment, he needed to have everyone get their shit together. When he reaches the doorway, he notices Diana is still sitting in the hall, with a blank expression across her normally storming gray eyes. "Agent Crypt, I'm gonna need you to get the hell back up." He urges, extending his hand toward her to get her back on her feet.

"Yes, sir," Diana grumbles obediently, feeling very unsure of herself. She takes the Director's hand into hers and he manages to get her to stand, but not without a swarm of obscenities seeping quietly from her lips. The weight of the scepter she feels in her free hand makes her tremble; she knows that if she can't keep the damned thing away from the bad guys, then the game is all over. "What do you want me to do with it?" She asks, waving the scepter in front of Fury's good eye timidly, already knowing the answer. In all honesty she wanted to put as much distance between her and the scepter as possible, but she knew all too well that she had a job to do, and that the Director more than expected her to get it done.

"I want you to get to the armory," He instructed simply, putting his hand on her shoulder, "help where you can, protect the scepter. Show these flying monkeys what for; I know you're good at that." With a brief smile and a nod of acknowledgement, the Director disappeared down the opposite end of the hall, his strong stride keeping himself away from the weakness of any doubts he might have had about leaving the scepter with her.

Diana glanced down at the scepter, watching its power swirl within the large blue gem that controlled it. She tested the lightness of it, tossing it in the air a few times, whirled it around for good measure, and slapped her game face back on with a grin. Whether or not Director Fury trusted her to keep this thing safe, she was sure as hell going to give him a run for his money. Now she needed to run to the armory, and pronto.

The fact that the Helicarrier was literally a giant metal labyrinth didn't help her much, and neither did the fact that most of the lights that she relied on to guide on her way kept haphazardly flickering on and off, throwing off her sense of direction. But Diana didn't have time to second-guess herself, and the sooner she could get a gun in her hands, the better off her chances were to stay in one piece. She could hear distinctive _pops _of gunshots from somewhere in the distance, signaling that the enemy was already swarming their facility, and every new body that slipped inside of the Helicarrier was another hostile entity that her mind had her keep track of. She could detect them left and right, at every corner, but she luckily she hadn't run into any of them by the time she made it to the armory, because she _really_ didn't want to have to resort to using the scepter. Quickly, she typed in her security code as deftly as her fingers would allow her, but the retina-scan was a completely different story, she actually had to remain still. She took deep breaths as the scanner ran over her eye, impatiently tapping her foot, and after about five seconds, the lock miraculously turned green and granted her access.

Much to her misfortune, the SHIELD Agents that had arrived not too long before her didn't waste any time clearing out most of the high-caliber weapons, so Agent Crypt was forced to improvise. With another flurry of curses, she raced down the length of the armory and was able to find where they stored the Glocks. The weapon was much smaller and lighter in her hands than her S&W 500, but it packed more than enough punch to pump a guy full of holes when she needed to. Wasting no time, Diana found a hollister, loaded up on ammunition, and got back to business. She did a brief mental scan of the Helicarrier, expanding her psychic reach as far as she could get it to go so she could detect where the nearest Avenger was. When the flash of a familiar golden aura responded to her call, she knew it had to be Thor. _"Don't get the party started without me,"_ She mused, hoping the Thunderer was close enough to receive her message.

Diana sprinted down the halls like a bat out of hell; she was a blur of motion, her legs pumping her body at a speed that was almost inhuman. She was absolutely sure of the way she needed to go now, with the trace she had of Thor's mind, he almost acted like an Asgardian version of a GPS. But she wouldn't get there without difficulty. The hostiles were coming in hot, literally crawling over every level of the Helicarrier like insects. As she descended down a flight of iron stairs, her head was almost shot clean off by several misplaced bullets. Instinctively, she crouched low, but kept a steady pace down the steps, keeping the scepter as close to her body as she could while she reached for her gun; clicking off the safety. She returned fire, tucking into a nearby doorway to provide her with some cover from the bullets that zoomed past her body, missing her by mere inches. As she advanced, her training quickly proved that she was a much better shot than her assailants, taking them down in seconds, and in no time at all she was booking it back down into the depths of the Helicarrier. She detected Thor to be much closer now, he was actually moving in her direction when she finally reached the foot of the stairs.

"Lady Crypt! I think now would be the time to demonstrate your ferocity in battle!" He beamed, bright blue eyes twinkling in excitement, with a grin that was all too hungry for battle. The god seemed to stand even taller now, with a proud saunter in his step, and the slight sheen of sweat that glistened off his skin shone with a prized accomplishment. He had already taken a few punches on his way to her locate her, but with his skill in battle, he had easily conquered his meager opponents and their puny popping weapons. Loki's scepter was safe, she was properly armed, and that was all that mattered; so long as that power remained in her capable hands, he could fight with one less burden on his shoulders.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you either, just because you're a god" Diana boasted, wriggling her eyebrows tauntingly at him. Tapping her weapon on her hip, she added, "I've already got two or three goonies on my scoreboard."

"Is that so, Lady Crypt?" He laughed, admiring the surge of enthusiasm she had for proving her skills. "Then let us go and settle the score. Where to, then?" A deafening roar silenced their jests, a terrifying, earth-shattering bellow that would have made weaker beings drop to their knees and quake in fear. It was Banner, they both knew, Loki had just unleashed the Hulk.


	10. Chapter 10

"That means trouble," They agreed, taking off into an adjacent hallway where the sound was coming from.

"How do we know where to find him?" Thor shouted from behind her, his large arms swinging across his sides as he followed Diana's lead.

"Perks of being a psychic, Thor," She hollered over her shoulder, not missing a step as they raced through the maze, reminding her vaguely of the tale of Theseus and the labyrinth of Crete. They were going to find the Mighty Minotaur, and they were going to beat him. But since the Hulk was their friend, they weren't going to stick to that story too meticulously. If they could, they planned on taking him alive, no matter what the cost. But the Hulk was a far more powerful source of energy than Banner, who did his best to keep his strength under wraps. In her mind's eye, his aura now acted like a beacon, burning brightly for everyone to see, daring any one to challenge the indiscriminating scrutiny of his power. It was their thread to follow, their only means keeping them from being lost to the maze, wandering forever in darkness. Diana's heart was hammering away in her chest, and she knew that feeling, the sweat in her palms and the shakiness of her hand holding the scepter: she was afraid.

"You seem nervous, Diana!" Thor teased, as if he could sense her apprehension, "Could it be that you are starting to lose heart?"

"No!" She squalled immediately, her cheeks burning, and not just because she was exhausted. They were very close now; her breathing becoming harder to control as they continued to speed on their path, charging recklessly towards the giant green face of death. As they drew nearer, another aura could be detected, though much smaller than the Hulk's, blazing just as brightly. This one didn't behave like an aura consumed with rage, this one mimicked her own aura all too well. This one was trembling in fear.

_"__Oh shit I need to run, I need to go faster!"_ She heard in her mind, receiving the panicked thoughts of a woman in peril. She recognized that voice in her head, the slight Russian accent coming out even harsher when she was on the brink of terror. It was Natasha. And the Hulk was closing in fast.

"Thor I'm gonna need you to go ahead of me!" Diana commanded, giving him more than enough room to be able to take the lead. "I don't know if you know what football is, but you're gonna need to take Banner down as soon as you see him!" Obeying her instructions, the God of Thunder picked up the pace; maneuvering through the space she had given him to dash in front of their line. "Run as fast as you can and knock him down! I don't have time to explain right now!" She screamed, hearing the pounding of very heavy feet slamming against the metal floor just a few yards ahead of them. They were running too slow, if they didn't make it in time, the Hulk would paint Natasha all over the walls. She had to think of something before it was too late. "Don't stop running, Thor! On three I need you to jump as hard as you can, okay? I'm gonna need you to trust me!"

"Don't you think I trust you enough already!" He pointed out, his feet skimming over the floor as he continued to race blindly down the dark hallway, already gaining a considerable distance between them. Diana dropped the scepter at her feet and slowed down, taking in big gulps of air into her lungs as she prayed to whatever God that listening at the moment to grant her strength.

"One…" She channeled in as much psychic energy as she could, putting as much force into her power as she did into her open prayer, clenching her hands into tight fists. "Two…" She concentrated on Thor's footsteps, willing him to run faster, willing him to be able to take flight. "_Three!_" There was a bright violet burst of energy from her hands, and at the precise moment that Thor had thrown his body into the air, he was carried by her energy at supersonic speed and projected straight into their large green target, not a moment too soon. "_Yes!_" She cheered loudly, pumping her fist in the air before scooping up the scepter from the floor and speeding down the hallway to retrieve Natasha.

"I guess you could say we came to _crash the party_, right?" Diana joked shamelessly, referring to the very large hole in the wall Thor made when he collided with Dr. Banner.

"Yeah… Yeah, I guess you could say that." Natasha panted, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as she leaned against the wall for support, her legs giving out from beneath her. Diana politely asked if the Black Widow could please remain seated and try to catch her breath while she quickly went to assist Thor, who was currently trying _not_ to get smashed by the Hulk. When she made no motion to argue with her, Diana promptly jumped through the new entrance to the aircraft storage room and tried to keep her wits about her. Banner was _definitely_ not going to make this easy for them.

"We're not your enemies, Banner," Thor groaned, straining to keep himself upright against the brute force of the Hulk's powerful fist. "Try to think!" Diana was close enough to hear the Hulk briefly scoff, and as if he were picking up a small child, lifted him off of the ground and effortlessly punched him through several layers of the cargo behind him.

"Oh, _shit_." She gasped, gripping the scepter tightly; she waited for the Hulk to search for another route to get to Thor, ever so eager to make use of his new plaything. When he was at a decent distance, she snuck through the Thor-sized crater, hoping to make it to her friend before the Hulk did. She jumped over boxes and hurled herself onto shipping containers, cautiously monitoring her surroundings for the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant. Remarkably, Thor was alive and still in one piece. She found him crouched on his knees, muscles rippling; his breathing deep and steady, and quite frankly, he looked to be very much enjoying the rush of their climactic fight. His long blond hair was drenched in sweat, hanging over his hooded eyes as he waited patiently for his burly opponent to make his way towards him. The Hulk let out another ear-splitting roar somewhere in the distance, the menacing noise echoing off of the walls from seemingly every direction; and while Thor extended his right hand into the air beside him, Diana had reasonably concluded that he had officially lost his mind.

"_Any day now, Dandelion_," She called out, cupping her hands over her mouth to make her voice carry farther, "I don't think Dr. Banner is gonna wait for you to summon myeh-myeh!"

"Have patience, Lady Crypt," Thor chuckled softly, a deep throaty sound that resonated with confidence, "Mjolnir has never arrived later than I needed it to." Diana was shocked, her body shaking in disbelief. How could anyone have so much blind faith in their abilities? Even now, every cell in her body was screaming for her to get out of there, to try and save herself. Maybe that was the difference between them; and there she was, hiding in the corner like a scared little kid all over again. It reminded her of how weak she was. She was no hero, no matter how hard she pretended to be one. Suddenly Diana was filled with shame, she couldn't have made it this far on just luck alone. She refused to believe that Coulson would have chosen her to be a part of SHIELD if it wasn't for _something_… right? Coulson was there every step of the way, he was always there to _guide _her, and he was always there to help her make the right call, no matter how bad her situation might have been. She wouldn't even _be there_ if it wasn't for him.

_"__I should have died in that fall…"_ She realized, her courage rekindling itself like a phoenix, rising from the ashes of her doubts. _"But Coulson gave me a reason live."_ Steeling her nerves, Diana rushed to Thor's side from her hiding place, lifting the scepter high above her head and stomping it powerfully against the floor. As it hit the concrete, the room was filled with a bright blue light, and each time it thudded against the floor, it only grew stronger.

"Come on, Bruce, we haven't got all day!" She barked, beckoning the large green monster to come at them with all he was worth. She could hear his thunderous footsteps drawing closer; it was only a matter of time before he was finally upon them.

"I'm starting to wonder if you've retained your sanity, Lady Crypt!" Thor howled to her left, bearing a wide, white-toothed grin across his face.

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing about you!" She replied, her voice eerily calm.

"On my mark, you're going to have to get out of here, Diana; I can't fight Banner with you here, I can handle this alone," He advised, looking up at her from his defensive position. Diana nodded briskly in response, focusing her energy on controlling the scepter. This would all take place in a matter of seconds, so she needed to be as prepared as possible.

Slipping clumsily around a corner, the Hulk finally made his grand appearance, panting like a wild animal as he charged full speed towards the pair, locking his sights on the scepter that was blinding his vision, straight for Diana. Diana's eyes widened as she stood her ground, her mind almost going into white rush of panic, he was _so close_. There was a sharp metallic hum beside her, and Thor screamed, "_Now!_" seizing Mjolnir by the handle and smashing it directly into the Hulk's lower jaw. As the two made impact with each other, Diana dove back into the direction she came from, rolling on her side to avoid crashing into Thor and the Hulk. She could hear them fighting, the loud groan of metal, but she couldn't risk turning around, or else she wouldn't be able to stop herself from trying to help. As she fled from the brawl, she sent out a final message to Thor, praying that Banner wouldn't prove to be his match. _"You die today and I'll kill you!"_Disappearing behind the crater he had left, she could hear Thor's defiant laughter in response.


	11. Chapter 11

"Okay, we should be going now!" Diana said, probably much too eagerly, to Natasha as she helped her rise from the floor. With a stern nod, she agreed, and the two of them rushed down the dark halls of the Helicarrier, aiming to rejoin with Director Fury back on the main deck. "I am so fucking requesting over-time for this bullshit!" she swore vulgarly as she ran, forgetting whose presence she was in while she rode the rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins.

Natasha let out a pleasant sounding chuckle, despite her nerves, finding Diana's choice of words very amusing. She never would have expected the Crypt Keeper to have such a morbid sense of humor, even at a time like this. "Don't you think it's a little risky to be running around with that thing?" She commented, referring to the scepter that she had swaying in her hand. Even her nails were black, Natasha observed, returning her piercing eyes to Diana's deeply reddening face.

"Yeah," She squeaked, biting her lip nervously, suddenly wishing the Hulk had smashed her into the ground to avoid having to have this conversation, "but the Boss told me it was my job to figure out how this stupid thing works. So I'm not gonna let anyone else get their hands on it." She concluded hurriedly, the words spewing out of her mouth in a jumbled mess as she tried (and failed) to regain her composure. Suddenly, the floor shifted beneath them, knocking the both of them into the opposite wall. A sinking feeling crept into the pit of Diana's stomach as she landed with her butt back on the floor. _The damaged engine must have finally given out_, she thought. They were falling.

_"It's Barton, he took our systems." _Fury announces grimly into their headpieces, damming news for the Black Widow, who's still visibly shaking from her own encounter with the Hulk._ "He's headed for the detention lab. Does anybody copy?" _Diana turned to face the Black Widow and gave her a saddened, knowing look. She nodded once at her; letting her know it was gonna be okay if she left her alone to make the call.

"This is Agent Romanoff." Natasha answers darkly, her voice almost devoid of any emotion. "I copy." Immediately after making her choice, Natasha sprang back onto her feet and took off without a backwards glance, turning into a dark hallway on her left that would eventually lead her straight into the detention lab. Diana wished her luck, hoping that at the end of the day she would enough still have luck left over to help her make it through the rest of the day alive. She knew this game was far from over, and that things were already pretty bad, but she couldn't shake the sickening feeling in her gut that told her things were about to get a whole lot worse. Overcome by the need to share her thoughts with Coulson, she radioed him in, hoping to at least give him some kind of warning.

"Coulson what the _fuck_ am I supposed to do?!" She demanded, already making her way back to the main deck, Chitauri scepter in hand.

"_You'll be fine, Diana, I want you to go and make sure Loki doesn't try and escape._" He tells her calmly, causing her to turn on her heel and take the hallway opposite of the one Natasha had just gone through. He also reassured her that he would be arriving there at around the same time, based on her location, and reminded her not to do anything hasty. "_Loki already got the drop on us one time, I don't want him to start running a streak."_

"Don't worry about me, old man, I can handle myself just fine," She pouted with the hint of smile, relieved that he was alright. There should have been a directory poster somewhere near where she was, so she travelled in the general direction she assumed it would be, keeping the pep in her step as she jogged down the hallway, her eyes scanning every inch of the walls surrounding of her. After Loki had been able to detect when she was trying to pry into his head, she didn't want to risk letting him know she was trying to sneak up on him by honing in on his location, she didn't want to risk Coulson getting hurt. Just when she was about to give up on her search, the damned piece of paper appeared at the end of the darkened hallway she was travelling down, mocking her with how it was so plainly visible if she had just bothered to look in front of her own stupid face. She was just about to let loose another stream of curse words concerning how hard it was to make out the tiny letters on the map, when she was struck by a brilliant idea. Why not just use the scepter for light?

Carefully she lifted the glowing end of it towards the wall and used its glowing blue gem to help her find her way to where Loki was being held. She found it in no time, and kissed the poster in excitement, grateful that just one small piece of her plan was actually working out. She took it with her just in case, not wanting to risk getting lost, and according to what it read; she wasn't too far away from him. Diana picked up her pace, but was mindful of how hard she was treading against the floor, so she had to remain agile; her footsteps needed to be silent. Fortunately, the lighting of the hallway picked up as she advanced, so the light coming from the scepter wouldn't be factoring into things she did that might give away her cover. She proceeded down the length hallway, the end of it being marked by a dimly lit red sconce just a few feet away. There were footsteps racing down the other end of that corner, and her breath caught in her throat, she prepared herself for anything. Diana pressed herself closely against the wall and moved along on her tip-toes, peeking out the other side to see who it was making so much noise. She saw the bulging muscles and the long blonde hair and almost cried out with joy. It was Thor! He was alive!

But her excitement wouldn't last long once she realized where exactly he was running to. If the directory was right, he was headed straight for Loki's cell. She dropped her map and tightened her grip on the scepter, rushing toward the room Thor had just gone through to see what was happening. "No!" heard him shout, making her heart drop in fear. How had Loki escaped?! She was about to turn into the doorway after him to offer her help but she halted herself in her tracks. What if this was what Loki wanted? Again, pressed her body against the wall, and poked her head out from the opposite side. She gasped, seeing a tall man with raven-colored hair and a long black leather cape step into view. Loki had gotten out, and now Thor was his prisoner.

"Are you ever _not _going to fall for that?" Loki chided, folding his hands behind his back. Enraged, Thor lifted Mjolnir and smashed it against the glass, attempting to break through.

_"No, don't do that!" _Diana cried mentally, already hearing the latches start to click into place that would send the God of Thunder free-falling fifty thousand feet into the arms of his death. Thor whirled his head in several directions, trying desperately to locate where she was but unable to see Diana hidden behind Loki's body. Thor's eyes followed his brother as he moved slowly toward the control module, a mischievous grin creeping to his lips. Thor also takes note of the rogue agent Loki had brought with him, armed with a much larger weapon than the one he had seen Diana carrying. He warns her to stay back with his mind; she would only play into their hands just as he did if she interfered. _"Shut up, I'm nervous enough as it is!"_ She scolded in response, drawing her Glock from its hollister. She crept forward down the hallway leading to the cell as carefully as possible, her movements as silent as the grave.

"The humans think us immortal." Loki stated as he ran his fingers across the various buttons that blinked and flashed underneath his hands. Diana clicked off the safety of her gun, aiming it straight at the God of Mischief as his index finger hovered over the bright red button that would eject Thor from the Helicarrier. "Should we test that?" Loki's guard let out loud grunt and he keeled over on the floor, dropping dead at the feet of a mysterious rescuer.

"Move away please," Coulson orders, appearing from literally out of nowhere from a different hallway, his voice a bit shaky. Everyone is quiet, and Diana is just gaping at him with her mouth hanging wide open.

_"How in the Hell did you do that?!"_ She exclaims at him with her mind, throwing her hands up from her position for some sort of explanation. He sees her gesture, but shakes his head very faintly, keeping his eyes locked on Loki.

"You like this?" Coulson asked, waving around the biggest gun that Diana had ever seen in her life. The damn thing would have made her S&W look like some cheap Nerf knockoff in comparison, it was _that huge_. Coulson was seriously holding out on her if she was just seeing this bad boy _now_, if it had been on the SHEILD catalogue when she had been ordering weapons, she would've known about it. Well, now at least she knew what she was asking Coulson for Christmas this year.

Loki watched Coulson wearily, his hands slowly rising just past his hips defensively; even _he_ must have known that a gun of that caliber had to pack some serious punch. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer." Coulson went on, taking a few daring steps forward. "Even I don't know what it does." The weapon began to power up, sparking some kind of childish glee inside of Agent Crypt's heart as she watched him prepare to take the shot. "Wanna find out?" There was the sickening sound of flesh being pierced by metal, and Diana heard Coulson yelp in pain. She actually flinched at the sight, not processing what had just happened.

"No!" Thor screamed, pounding helplessly against the glass with his hand. Diana opened her eyes again, and gasped in shock, her lips beginning to tremble. It didn't make sense, Loki now _behind_ Coulson, dangling him in the air as he thrust a spear deeply into the lower left side of his shoulder…. in the area dangerously near his heart. Then it hit her, her heartbeat racking against her ribs, threatening to burst free, came to a sudden stop. The room was spinning again, whirling out of control, she was hearing voices, so many voices in her head, and none of it was making sense. Her vision was turning red, all she could see was blood, was anger, was _rage. _She couldn't take it anymore, and before the God of Thunder's eyes, she finally snapped.


	12. Chapter 12

"_Coulson!_" Diana shrieked, charging from her position, all rational thought abandoning her as she began shooting wildly at the god, missing every shot. Her eyes were the color of amethysts now, no longer sterling silver; her body being overcome by the flood of emotions, surrendering to her negative energy. Loki laughed as he snapped the weapon away from her wrist with ease, wrapping his arms around her body and pinning her free arm behind her back, attempting to make a grab for the scepter. "_No!_" She yowled, slamming her head against his chest with enough superhuman strength to knock him off of her, using the butt of her foot to put some distance between them. The scepter in her right hand was glowering brightly, feeding off of her rage as she lost sight of who she was. All she wanted to do, all she was capable of doing; was satisfy her need for revenge.

"Diana, don't!" Coulson called out hoarsely, blood gushing through his shirt and onto his jacket as he sat against the wall for support, "You need to get out of here!" he sputtered, as more of the thick red fluid came seeping from his lips, rendering him unable to find enough air to go into his lungs. Diana turned to look at him, her chest rising and falling as she tried to contain the storm of sobs that were wracking against her ribs, Coulson was _dying_. Loki didn't wait for Diana's tears to fall; he was already upon her, pouncing like a cat upon its prey. He drew out his dagger from its sheath and was slashing expertly at her, making her stumble and struggle to find her footing while narrowly avoiding the blade.

"I didn't know you had such a pretty woman ready to fight at your disposal, Agent Coulson!" He goaded, enticing Diana to make a mad grab for his face to shut him up. Loki was very lithe and agile despite his armor, his movements almost too fast for her to see, but it didn't stop her from giving it all that she had. "I bet she'll be even prettier serving me!" Loki reached for her clawed hand, but Diana was quick enough to pull back, but not before the edge of his knife bit deeply across her sensitive flesh, drawing a long line of blood across her left forearm. She winched at the pain but kept her arm raised, tightening her grip on the scepter on her right.

"In your fucking dreams, Loki!" She shot back, sweat glistening off her forehead. She was starting to get dizzy, he must have gotten her good with his knife, but she wasn't going to let it end here, not now. Long inky strands of her hair were falling across her face, sticking to her shimmering skin as the two of them squared off; waiting for the other to make their next move. Used her bloodied hand to wipe them off over her face, she never let her focus drop from the deviant just a few feet in front of her; grossly aware that her left hand was starting to sting and ache, her body reminding her that she was running out of time.

"I believe you have something of mine," Loki cooed, with a sly expression across his face that made Diana sick to her stomach. His emerald eyes trailed hungrily over the staff clenched in her fist, giving the young Agent an idea. If he wanted the damned thing back so bad, she'd give it return it to him with interest. The weapon twirled seamlessly in circles in her right hand, earning her the puzzled expression that came across the god's face when he tried to calculate exactly what she planned on doing with it.

"Oh, you mean this?" She asked innocently, her eyes hardening as she saw Loki try to step too close. With a sarcastic chuckle, she whirled the scepter in her hand and struck him across the face with the blade, causing a thin line of blood to appear across the bridge of his nose. The look Loki gave her when he realized she had actually hit him might have been one of mutual respect, but he was quick to dismiss it, with his sinister laughter reverberating throughout the room.

"Well then if you aren't going to give it back to me, I'm simply going to have to take it!" There was an odd flash of blue in his eyes when he made his next move, delaying Diana's next reaction for a half-second too late. He feigned a punch to her left side while he japed his right fist into her ribs, knocking the breath out of her. Diana saw his knee coming while she doubled over, but when she made a move to block him with her arm, he slammed his elbow into her spinal cord, stunning her nerves and making her collapse onto the floor, the scepter rolling cruelly out of her hand. As Diana whimpered in agony, she turned her head to Coulson, who looked at her with his eyes shining with pity.

"I'm sorry, Coulson, I'm such an idiot, I'm so sorry!" She gasped, her entire body shaking uncontrollably from the pain of Loki's attack on her spine and the sorrow for letting him down in his moment of need. Diana was starting to see double, her head was whirling, and there was an alien wetness in the back of her throat that tasted like rust; threatening to make her vomit all over the floor.

"It's alright… It's alright…" Coulson mumbled faintly, his eyelids fluttering as he struggled to maintain consciousness. Loki stepped beside her, taking the opportunity to kick her in the stomach while she was still down, making her nearly scream at the sharp pain. Diana dry-heaved violently on the cold metal floor, black spots clouding her vision when she suddenly felt a strong gust of wind at pull her hair. She knew what it meant, Loki had opened the gate, and he was going to kill Thor. She tried lifting herself up, but her legs wouldn't obey, causing her to collapse back down with her face pressed against the steel. She could see Thor standing at the center of the cage, putting on a brave face so his brother wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing him cower.

Diana can't move to try and help him, there's absolutely nothing she can do to stop this and she hates it; it isn't fair. "No…" She wept, bitter tears falling from her eyes as she tried to extend her hand towards Thor. Her head then moved to watch Loki, with his pale hand floating tantalizingly over the button. "Don't do it…" She pleaded with him, locking her eyes with the unnatural blue color that has possessed him. He glances down at her with a passive smirk, as if he were actually considering the reasons why would not go through killing his own brother. He lifts his electric gaze back to Thor, then lets at a faint sigh, before pressing his hand down on the button, sending his brother zooming down the chute and spiraling into the air beneath them. "_Thor!_" She yelled helplessly, as the last bit of strength abandoned her and she finally passed out.

Coulson, still dangling between worlds, opens his eyes again, startled by Diana's cry. He sees her curled in a ball, with dark red liquid coming from her arm, staining through that damned black jacket she always wore. It reminded him of when they first met, how defenseless she had been, lying in a pool of blood. He smiles gently at her semi-still form, hearing her shallow breathing, happy to know that she would still carry on, even if this time it was without him. She wouldn't like it, he knew that much as well, but there was only so much he had to teach her before she figured out what she wanted to do for herself. There is movement to his left, and with what scraps of strength he has left, he turns his head to face Loki. He now had the scepter hanging proudly in his hand, poised toward the fallen Agent resting at Coulson's useless feet. Though he had been very faint, he now remembered the remark that Loki had made while he was fighting her, how pretty she had been fighting at his disposal, like she were some mindless attack dog. And now he wanted her power for himself, Loki wanted to turn Diana against them, just the way had had taken Selvig and Agent Hawkeye. Alarm surged through Coulson's body, reminding him of the heavy metal mass he still had in his lap, fully charged and ready to fire. The cruel god was stalking his way toward them; and Coulson knew that if that scepter touched her, there wouldn't be any stopping him. Coulson had to distract him somehow, give himself enough time to get the bastard within shooting range. He had to know something he didn't, some grievous statement that he wouldn't know how to answer. Then he had it.

"You're going to lose" Coulson says bravely, hoping his voice didn't sound as weak as he felt.

"Am I?" Loki countered, narrowing his power-hungry blue eyes at him, momentarily forgetting about Diana and directing his attention back to his battered and bleeding body.

"It's in your nature," he clarified, not daring to glance back at Diana to see if she was still alright; Loki would see through his plot the instant he dropped his guard.

"Your heroes are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky," The God listed deviously, aware that at this point in his plan, they would need a miracle to manage to defeat him. "Where is my disadvantage?" Even if he was right, Loki was still falling for it, he was taking the bait word for word, and Coulson only had to have him play into his hands for just a few more seconds...

"You lack conviction…." He answered honestly, the ghost of a smirk coming to his blood-stained mouth. Without breaking eye-contact, Coulson raised his trembling finger to the trigger, _just one more step…_

"I don't think I'm—" Loki began, and then _bang_! A bright orange burst of energy shot out of Coulson's lap like a cannonball, projecting the god straight through a concrete beam and very pleasantly far away from of the room.

"So, that's what it does…" Coulson gasped, struggling to focus through the blaze of pain that seared every nerve-ending in his body. Hazily, he thought of the small piece of Diana that would have scolded him for being so stupid and dying on the job. _"She always put up that front,"_ he thought, feeling the weight of his body begin to slowly lift, _"that if she was so tough and thick-skinned, no one could ever hurt her…"_ He would close his eyes for just a moment or two, and then he could go back to kicking that bastard god's ass when he woke up. _"It would have made Diana laugh,"_ he chuckled in his mind, reliving the moment he had bested the god of mischief and shot him through a wall, before his eyes fluttered shut, _"Diana would have been so happy to see that."_


	13. Chapter 13

_*****Author's Note*** Happy Thanksgiving **__**from the U.S to all my wonderful readers! It's because of you guys that I continue writing and I sincerely hope you all had an amazing holiday! If you've read this far, I can't express my gratitude to each and every one of you for following the "Crypt Keeper" series! You guys are the best!**_

_**As always, I'll do my best to update often and I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have! (But no spoilers, I promise!)**_

_**Thank you so much, yours always,**_

**_TheRabidRabbit_**

* * *

><p>Director Fury rushes to the scene, marching with a small army of paramedics flanking at his sides to provide aid for any remaining survivors. As the Agents are inspecting the hallways for any injured persons, he stumbles upon the two bodies left in a room meant to control the worst of outcomes they could foresee; two of his best agents were lying there, one sprawled on the floor with a veil of long black hair covering her face, and the other, an old friend, resting his bloodied body against a wall, his breathing escaping him faint and gentle. Fury makes a movement to try and stir the woman, to see if she was still conscious, but a croak escaped the crackled lips of his fallen comrade, pleading with him to leave her be.<p>

"No, don't… she doesn't need to see this…" The words came out in a several deep gasps, the sheer effort Coulson was putting into speaking causing several beads of sweat to break out of his pores and begin to trickle down his forehead. His eyes are open, but there was no longer the familiar glimmer of life in the depths of his dark brown eyes, the spark he used to have in them had been smothered out by the heavy cloak of death that hung over his bent shoulders. Fury could scarcely believe what he was seeing was real, that this poor broken creature was actually his senior officer.

"It's alright, I won't, I promise." The Director coaxed, slowly moving away from Diana. He couldn't risk stressing Coulson any further; he could see that from the extent of his wound that the Agent was already too far gone to be saved. The blood that had stemmed from the large hole in his breast had already soaked into his clothes and painted the metal wall behind him, at this rate he wouldn't be with them for much longer. Coulson begins to shutter as he speaks once more, he's so cold to the touch now, and the pallor in his cheeks revealed such a stark contrast to the ruby-red fluid that stained the corner of his mouth.

"I—I want her to know… that I don't want her… to get revenge. It'll—it'll only destroy her." The image of Diana being possessed by her blind rage triggers a stress reaction that makes Coulson begin to faint, but the Director's hands are there to catch him and keep him upright, there to keep him from falling apart. Even on his forearm, Director Fury and feel the thick, metallic liquid begin to solidify into the sleeves of his suit, but he doesn't let his grip slacken, he engages the Agent with conversation, trying to keep him grounded for as long as he can. Part of him is terrified of what could possibly be going through his mind. Was he angry? Would he curse him for driving him to his death? Did he hate him for letting their situation get so far out of hand?

"I'm sorry, boss. The god rabbited." Coulson breathed, limply moving his head side to side to try and shake the confusion that was swimming around in his head. Nick Fury was stunned; was he actually _apologizing _to him? "Diana… s-she lost the scepter… It's because of me, it isn't her fault…" Fury can see the final darkness begin to cloud over Coulson's eyes, so he holds onto him just a little tighter, gently nudging his arms to try and stir a reaction from him, to keep him focused as long as he can.

"Just stay awake," The Director says gently, but Coulson was already starting to leave his body, the stiffness in his muscles starting to loosen inch by inch, "_eyes on me_." He urges, putting his hand to Coulson's face, forcing him to look at him. He looks so tired now, the lids of his eyes were half-closed, and a lazy smile came to the Agent's face when he saw how serious his boss's face was. All he needed to do was shut his eyes…

"No, I'm clocking out here…" He murmured; the urge to sleep overpowering all other thoughts.

"Not an option." Fury gives the order, but there was no force behind it. There was nothing he could do to keep Coulson tied to the earth any longer. His death was finally upon him, and all he could do was give him the decency to hear his last words and see to it that he gave him a proper funeral.

"It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work… if they didn't have something… to…" He never finished, his chest doesn't rise back up for him to take another shallow breath; Coulson was gone. The Director lets a deep sigh escape from his lips, lines of despair coming upon his brow as he said a silent, final farewell to his old friend, lifting his hand to allow the paramedics to document his passing. He can hear Agent Crypt begin to stir to his left; she was finally starting to wake up.

"Please," He tells the Agents behind him, who look up from their paperwork to gape at him like does in headlights. "Could you take him to another room? She's not gonna want to see this." They immediately mumble their compliances and two of them grab Coulson's legs, and another latches on to his torso, delicately carrying his body somewhere out of sight. Director Fury can't help but feel the heavy weight of guilt bear down on his shoulders, but he had to respect Coulson's final wishes. He didn't want Agent Crypt to see him like that.

The woman's movements become more cognitive, and Fury kneels besides her, carefully placing his hand under her arm to help her sit upright. She's wincing all the while, hissing at the throbbing in her belly and the soreness of her head. When she regains her senses, her sounds of pain are silenced; her storm colored eyes boring deeply into his lonely brown iris, darkening to the color of ominous rainclouds. She tightly purses her lips into a thin line; turning her head to the red spot on the wall that marked where Coulson had been sitting just moments before. He can see her putting two and two together in her head, Fury knows Diana isn't a fool; the sharpness of her glare could split a man in two, her silent rage festering behind such beautifully colored eyes.

"What happened to him?" She asks simply, her words dripping with the poison of malice.

"Try not to talk, you're injured." Fury soothes, hoping his tones are soft enough to not anger her further. Diana grinds her jaws together hard enough to crack marble, but she doesn't say anything to press the matter. She rises to her feet and stands alone, looking down at the Director when she asks her next difficult question.

"Loki, where's Loki?" Another long sigh comes from the aged man, and he uses bent his knee to prop himself back up slowly to break the news to the Diana to her face. She didn't want him to try and avoid her question again with more concerns about her safety.

"He escaped." The Director answered bluntly, straightening his spine to prepare himself for her impending verbal assault. She was making him uneasy with her silence, it had to be the calm before the storm; she had always been the Agent that spoke her mind, never keeping her thoughts or opinions hidden from anyone. It was such an irony that she had been a mind-reader, since no one ever had to wonder what was going on in her head at any given moment. But the fantastic release of her rage never came: Diana Crypt hadn't spoken a word in rebuttal, never screamed or exploded in the Director's face the countless other times he had seen her do to previous supervisors.

"I'm sorry—" He began weakly, but Diana struck down the meager words with a sharp dismissal of her hand.

"Don't," she cut in, her eyes moistening with tears. He never had to say a word, she already _knew_ the news that was coming, even without ever having to read Fury's mind, Diana knew what he was going to say next and she had to stop it from reaching her ears. She didn't want to make it real. She shakes her head and turns her back on him, ripping her headpiece from her ear and marching out of the room, letting her tears fall behind the black veil of her hair. Nick Fury waits until Diana is out of earshot to announce the news to the rest of the Agents and the Avengers, but it doesn't make the burden on his shoulders any easier for him to carry.

"Agent Coulson is down," Nick Fury reports sadly, feeling as if he had been aged ten years in a matter of seconds, the next words he says leaving a bitter taste in his mouth as he confirms Diana's worst possible fear. "_They called it_."


End file.
